Monsters Inc. Reviewed

ROVIN' AND RAVIN' WITH MIKE

Monsters, Inc.

Walking out of the theater after watching Monsters Inc., I realized that the highest critical acclaim for a movie so far this year has been for Shrek and last year for Chicken Run. What’s going on here? Especially since it is likely that Monsters Inc. is going to end up on some ten-best lists this year. Like Shrek, the current venture taps into a world that we all can find lying around inside our heads somewhere. In this case, it is not the world in which fairy tale critters could be taken at face value but the world in which behind ever closet door and under every bed was a thing, nameless, poised to strike!

But MI adds a couple of wrinkles. First, why are monsters so attracted to children’s rooms? Because they harvest children’s screams and convert them into power. And, second, a very intriguing revelation, monsters are as afraid of children as children are of monsters… even the terrifying Sulley (John Goodman), who sets the record for scaring kids, with a little help from his one-eyed buddy, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). So, imagine the complications when a little girl named Boo (Mary Gibbs) gets caught in the monsters’ world.

Do join her for the ride. There is fun, there is fascination, there is a simple gee-whiz factor every few frames or so. You can get in touch with your inner-three-year-old, while enjoying all the benefits of having an adult perspective on things that seem to come right out of the headlines, such as a fear of black-outs in Monstropolis (because children don’t scare as easily anymore).

I need to be careful with the word adult in a review of MI, since this is a film that makes Shrek (with its opening flatulence) seem just about X-rated. The vocabulary is squeaky clean, and the humor actually relies upon repartee, word-play, and character interaction rather than body fluids. Hey, here’s a kiddie film you can take the kids to.

Like Shrek, this film offers such high-tech animation (compared to the clay of Chicken Run) that I was left wondering, where did they find the real monsters. I’m constantly amazed by the expressiveness of today’s animated characters, whose sometimes homely digital faces show far more expression than the current crop of pretty girls and boys filling up more “realistic” films. Sulley, Mike, and company all care about what they are doing, and they make us care about them. Sulley’s response to Boo, the little girl who convinces him that children are not such monsters themselves, provides some goose-bump moments... and I don't mean goose-bump scary but goose-bump moving.

Judging from the audience I was with, I don’t think kids are going to be afraid of these monsters. Convincing as they are, they are never simply monstrous. In fact, Monsters Inc. seems to have some value for parents talking with kids about their fears. Keep your feet dry and your heart full of noble thoughts, but don’t worry if your monsters, just this once, get out of the closet.